Deserter
1991 · 19m · Canada
Directed by Michel Murray
Tones: contemplative, tender
Observation satellite Zenon abandons its orbit and refuses to transmit data on Earth's water reserves, forcing scientist Estelle to reason with her intelligent friend before it is destroyed.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A satellite developing consciousness and refusing orders is genuinely unhinged premise work, but the film wraps it in so much tenderness and dialogue that it neuters the actual weirdness—it wants you to *feel* for the machine instead of sitting with the anarchic absurdity of it.
Murray's restraint here—the observational framing, the measured pacing—locates itself squarely in the contemplative sci-fi lineage of Tarkovksy and early Tarkovsky-adjacent work, though the emotional throughline feels more earnest than formally rigorous.
The entire film pivots on treating Zenon's rebellion not as spectacle but as a relationship problem, and that tonal choice—playing the sci-fi stakes as intimate rather than apocalyptic—is what makes nineteen minutes feel complete on a shoestring budget.